The helicopter blades have stopped turning, the limousine engines have been switched off.All the VIPs who have been flown or driven to the G8 summit in the central Italian city of L'Aquila have now arrived. But even as it got under way there have been some who have been saying it has been badly organised. Britain's Guardian newspaper was one that said preparations were so chaotic that there have been murmurings from other member states about expelling Italy from the G8. The paper said that moving the summit from Sardinia to L'Aquila, which was hit by an earthquake in April, had created a situation where other countries were setting the agenda for the conference, instead of the host, Italy. The Italians have reacted with anger and disbelief. Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said it should be The Guardian who ought to be expelled from the list of great newspapers.
The helicopter blades have stopped turning, the limousine engines have been switched off.
All the VIPs who have been flown or driven to the G8 summit in the central Italian city of L'Aquila have now arrived.
But even as it got under way there have been some who have been saying it has been badly organised.
Britain's Guardian newspaper was one that said preparations were so chaotic that there have been murmurings from other member states about expelling Italy from the G8.
The paper said that moving the summit from Sardinia to L'Aquila, which was hit by an earthquake in April, had created a situation where other countries were setting the agenda for the conference, instead of the host, Italy.
The Italians have reacted with anger and disbelief.
Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said it should be The Guardian who ought to be expelled from the list of great newspapers.
Italians break convention and listen in Whenever G8 leaders gather for their annual talks, an elaborate ritual unfolds to ensure the conversations within this elite club are kept confidential. There will be no recording or note-taking of their deliberations, and each head of government is accompanied by just one aide - the "sherpa" - who is allowed to communicate with those outside the closed room only through a digital pen. Their huddle is projected on a video to aides outside the conference room, without sound. Their mouths are digitally blacked out. It is a process that has been respected each year. Only once, in St Petersburg in 2006 - when a microphone picked up an exchange between then US president George W. Bush and Tony Blair, British prime minister at the time - has part of their conversation leaked out. The Italians insist there is no change in procedure this time. But the Financial Times has learnt from a senior official, who requested anonymity, that Italian aides did listen to yesterday's proceedings through headphones from nearby rooms. A document obtained by the FT, written earlier by a member of the organising team, urged discretion. "Pay attention not to tell the other delegations about our facility, otherwise they will all want it and that is not possible," it said.
Whenever G8 leaders gather for their annual talks, an elaborate ritual unfolds to ensure the conversations within this elite club are kept confidential.
There will be no recording or note-taking of their deliberations, and each head of government is accompanied by just one aide - the "sherpa" - who is allowed to communicate with those outside the closed room only through a digital pen.
Their huddle is projected on a video to aides outside the conference room, without sound. Their mouths are digitally blacked out.
It is a process that has been respected each year. Only once, in St Petersburg in 2006 - when a microphone picked up an exchange between then US president George W. Bush and Tony Blair, British prime minister at the time - has part of their conversation leaked out. The Italians insist there is no change in procedure this time.
But the Financial Times has learnt from a senior official, who requested anonymity, that Italian aides did listen to yesterday's proceedings through headphones from nearby rooms.
A document obtained by the FT, written earlier by a member of the organising team, urged discretion. "Pay attention not to tell the other delegations about our facility, otherwise they will all want it and that is not possible," it said.
Poor Obama! being set up by a stubby buffoon and his paranoid Libyan business partner. This is not going to go over in the States where Kheddafi is heartedly detested, especially by the conservative base. I frankly wonder if B is pulling off a dirty trick on behalf of his neocon chums.
Obama will grin and bear it. May he even the score asap.
Obama Shakes Hands With Libya's Qaddafi President Obama's gesture was his latest effort to reach out to controversial world leaders in an attempt to improve the United States' standing around the world that he says was damaged by former President Bush's unilateral diplomacy. President Obama shook hands with Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi Thursday, a sign that relations have improved considerably between the U.S. and the North African nation. The two met as they posed for pictures ahead of a G-8 summit dinner hosted by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. Obama's diplomatic gesture was his latest effort to reach out to controversial world leaders in an attempt to improve the United States' standing around the world, which he says was damaged by former President Bush's unilateral diplomacy. But it was Bush who restored full diplomatic relations with Libya in 2006 after the formerly isolated country, which was recognized as a sponsor of terrorism, announced it was ending its weapons of mass destruction program.
President Obama's gesture was his latest effort to reach out to controversial world leaders in an attempt to improve the United States' standing around the world that he says was damaged by former President Bush's unilateral diplomacy.
President Obama shook hands with Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi Thursday, a sign that relations have improved considerably between the U.S. and the North African nation.
The two met as they posed for pictures ahead of a G-8 summit dinner hosted by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.
Obama's diplomatic gesture was his latest effort to reach out to controversial world leaders in an attempt to improve the United States' standing around the world, which he says was damaged by former President Bush's unilateral diplomacy.
But it was Bush who restored full diplomatic relations with Libya in 2006 after the formerly isolated country, which was recognized as a sponsor of terrorism, announced it was ending its weapons of mass destruction program.
If we look at the dinner setting the message B is conveying is that he is responsible for détente between Qaddafi and Obama. Unmerited credit.
